


And You’ll Look Back and Laugh

by rhincoln



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Hotel Sex, Infidelity, M/M, Sharing a Bed, rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 21:01:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6024730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhincoln/pseuds/rhincoln
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link finds himself in a hotel bed where the only source of warmth is Rhett.<br/>Rhett weathers through.</p><p>— inspired by gmm #125, how to share a hotel bed</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Even with Rhett’s hoodie draped over his shoulders, Link was shivering.

“You need help with that?” Rhett asked, indicating the keycard Link had failed to stick into its rightful place in the intricate hotel room door knob. Just as Rhett offered to help, though, Link succeeded in his second attempt at unlocking the door, and immediately pushed it open once he got the green light.

“Ugh,” Link voiced his irritation upon entering the room, pulling the hoodie tighter around himself. “Why is it so cold?” he muttered absently as he took his shoes off and left them by the door. He crossed the room in a few quick strides before leaning down to inspect the radiator near the window. The heating was turned all the way up, but the radiator was cold.

He had left Rhett in the doorway to close the door.   
Once he did it, Rhett moved up to the centre of the room and sat on the edge of the bed, watching Link amusedly.

Link continued to mumble disapprovingly. “First they give us one bedroom - a one-bed, floating-wood-floor room - and now even the heating doesn’t work.”

Rhett smiled and hummed in mock-agreement as he watched Link flit about the room. Even if he thought that Link was worrying too much about the state of the room, he understood his friend’s indignation. The main source of it being that their nearly perfect, sunny day had ended in rain and the temperature dropping significantly. Which made Link cranky and anything else seem worse than it may have been. 

Rhett didn’t completely mind the room or the rain. Not even the cold - he was fine in just his t-shirt, but he knew that Link had always been a little more sensitive to the cold. Especially after that time they’d almost frozen to death in the Cape Fear river.

Link was now hurrying to open his suitcase which sat at the foot of the bed, meticulously aligned with it. He kneeled just where Rhett’s feet were and reached across the suitcase for the zipper, all the while mumbling to himself.

“I’ll go take a shower, you warm up the bed,” Link said, talking more to himself than to Rhett. 

“Okay…” Rhett said slowly, looking at his friend who was now searching for something in his suitcase and wasn’t paying him a lot of attention.

Once Link had found what he was looking for - clean underpants, his towel and a bottle of shampoo (he liked to bring his own, even if the hotel would have some) - he stood up in front of Rhett and shrugged the hoodie off his shoulders before taking it off and bunching it up to hand over to Rhett. “Here, uh, thank you.”

Rhett didn’t think he imagined the colour that rose in Link’s cheeks. This was why he loved doing things like this for Link. This was why he loved Link - the expression of pure gratitude and the bashfulness that showed in his friend’s face and in his voice made Rhett  _melt._

“No problem, brother,” Rhett said, taking the hoodie from him, making Link give him another wide smile. Another thing he loved about Link was that the man could always smile for him, with him or at him, no matter how cold it was and no matter how cranky he was.

Link turned sideways to face the open suitcase but didn’t move otherwise. He was still standing right in front of Rhett, who had his hands in his lap around the warm piece of clothing. Link’s shivering was more prominent now that he was only in a t-shirt himself, and he rubbed his left arm with his right hand as if to warm it up by creating friction. Rhett could think of a few ways to warm up by creating friction - always, on nights like these, when they were blissfully alone, and Link was so obviously sensitive.

Really, what he would think about, especially after Link pulled his shirt off over his head (determined in folding it and placing it inside the suitcase neatly even though he was freezing) was standing up to pull Link in for a hug, enveloping him to keep him warm, rubbing his back soothingly as Link leaned against his chest.

And, okay, upon further thought, maybe Rhett  _did_  mind the one room and the one bed a little. Maybe he  _did_  mind them being so blissfully alone. 

He had had worse, certainly. They’d been forced to share beds way smaller and way colder, and if Link would huddle closer for warmth, Rhett never really reciprocated, and it was exactly because he wanted to do it that he knew he never could.

In their day-to-day lives, even if the thoughts of being affectionate with Link never ceased, he could usually tamp them down. Less so when they were alone, and never less than when they were forced to be so close to each other like this. He had devised a tactic to deal with situations like this a long time ago, though, and had practiced it many times. He would sleep like a log. Literally - unruffled and unmoving.

“I’m serious, man,” Link said, unbuttoning his pants to swiftly shimmy out of them, “Warm up the bed. You’re like a freaking human furnace. I can’t understand how you’re never cold.”

Rhett shrugged. “I don’t know.” Though, looking at the prickled skin of Link’s side, his gaze following the slightly curved line of Link’s bottom, he had a pretty good idea. “You didn’t forget that I’m not showering till morning, did you? I’ll just be here, y'know. Wallowing in my own filth,” Rhett said through a smile which only widened when he managed to make Link laugh, which was his intention in the first place (which was nearly always his intention, and the laugh a gift from God).

“You know I don’t judge your shower schedule, brother. It works well for us,” Link said, “What would we do if we wanted to take a shower at the same time?”

“Hah,” Rhett let out, “Yeah.”

He looked away, pressing his lips in a tight line as he thought of just how their showers would work if they had the need to shower at exactly the same time.

As Link was fiddling more with his clothes, Rhett toed his shoes off and moved up on the bed to distance himself a little from his nearly nude friend, but he never took his eyes off him.

Link folded his jeans quickly, looking over his shoulder at Rhett as he did so.

“Uh, so. You need to - uh - ?”

Rhett moved his gaze up to Link’s face quickly, his own face heating up a little. “Need to..?”

“Go to the, uh, take a-?” Link made vague gestures in the direction of the bathroom with his hand. He placed his jeans into the suitcase and turned to fully face Rhett.

“Take a dump?” Rhett challenged, one eyebrow raised.

Link rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. That.”

“Nope,” Rhett said contentedly, folding his hands behind his head as he leaned back on the bed. “Did it while you spoke to the receptionist about the quality of the parquet, in the lobby.”

Link grinned. “In the lobby?”

“In the lobby restroom,” Rhett enunciated, making Link, and then himself, laugh.

“Sure,” Link said amusedly, shaking his head as he took his socks off and neatly folded them into themselves before leaving them at the foot of the bed.

Rhett watched him fold his hands over his chest and rub them together a little to warm up.

“Goodness, it’s cold,” Link stated again as he turned and started to manoeuvre his way between the suitcases and bags on the floor to get to the bathroom door.

Rhett didn’t have any smart comments about Link  _naturally being cold in just his underwear._  He simply watched Link go, watched the muscles in his legs tense up as he tip-toed on the cold floor, watched him softly close the door behind himself as he entered the bathroom.

Rhett leaned back further, sinking into the pillows as he heaved a sigh. He turned his gaze toward his own suitcase, which was near the corner of the room by the bathroom door. Figuring he’d have to change into his sleeping gear eventually, he got out of the bed and went to squat in front of his own suitcase. As he rummaged through it for a clean shirt, he could hear the water running on the other side of the door, and he knew that Link had turned the shower on.

After he’d taken his clothes off and put on the shirt he was going to be sleeping in, Rhett walked over to the bathroom door, toothbrush complete with toothpaste and floss in his hand, and hesitated in front of the door for a bit. He could still hear the water running, which meant that Link was in the shower, behind the curtain and out of sight. Rhett didn’t feel like waiting for him to finish showering, and after all, he had a bed to warm up and less and less time to do so, so he gave the door a preemptive knock before turning the door knob.

The sounds of water immediately ceased.

“Rhett?” Link asked, just as Rhett was about to close the door behind himself.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, good that you’re here.” There was an audible smile in Link’s voice.

Rhett’s eyes widened a little and he remained by the door awkwardly. He cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah?” 

He closed the door behind himself slowly and approached the sink, near which, on top of a cabinet, sat Link’s neatly folded briefs and his towel. 

Link took his time answering, and the soft, slippery sounds coming from behind the curtain indicated that Link was probably using soap. The thought bothered Rhett more than he would have expected it to, and he cast his eyes down to the floor as he waited for Link’s reply, suddenly feeling a bit hot.  _What if he got in there, and helped Link with the soap?_

He focused on the floor instead. The squeaky clean, white-tiled floor on which sat Link’s discarded underpants.

“Yeah, uh,” Link began slowly, focusing more on the task at hand, making Rhett have to look away from the general direction of the shower. “Could you get me my hair dryer?” Link enquired from behind the curtain, turning the water on again, “It’s in the suitcase, under my pants,” he spoke over the water.

Rhett nodded and looked at the curtain for a moment before turning around to walk into the bedroom. He didn’t allow himself to overstay his bathroom visit.

When he closed the bathroom door behind himself, he leaned against it for a moment, thinking about what was on the other side. His heart had jumped at Link saying that it was good that he was in there, and for a moment he had actually hoped that Link would ask him to come closer, maybe join him. 

Why was he suddenly curious to see just exactly what was behind that curtain? To not avert his eyes, but to take a closer look?  _And why did he suddenly want Link to look at him as well?_

If he was being completely honest, it wasn’t at all sudden. Which was something he definitely didn’t want to think about. Mostly because  _had_  done the thinking-about-it part for long enough to know that trying to appreciate Link with more obvious looks or touches was not about to work out for him in any way.

He moved over to Link’s suitcase and true enough, under a few pairs of trousers, he found the hair dryer. He tried to leave the clothes as neat as he’d found them, and when he was finally satisfied and walked over to the bathroom door, the water was still running, which he took as a sign that he should enter.

“Hey,” he called out to Link, “Here’s your dryer. I’ll leave it on the can.” He’d always found that saying something jokingly, no matter how casual, would help dissolve the tension a little, get him back to feeling like his regular self.

This time, however, Link’s responding laugh only encouraged the weird fluttering feeling in his gut. 

“Yeah, oh-” Link turned the water down a bit so he could hear and be heard better, “Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute.”

Rhett nodded but forgot to voice his approval, instead opting to head for the door immediately. He walked over to the bed and after taking his socks off, he got under the covers and settled in comfortably. Remembering Link’s request, he moved closer to the centre of the bed so that he could try and warm up a spot for him.

Looking up at the ceiling with his hands linked atop his chest, Rhett didn’t really move until he heard the door of the bathroom open.

Link came out of the bathroom and hurriedly placed his necessities down on the floor next to his suitcase, shivering as he did so. “Good news is, uh, we have warm water,” he said as he walked around the bed, fixing his things up, clad only in his underpants. “B-but, uh, the shower curtain isn’t the best so… Watch your step next time you go to the bathroom.”

“Come to bed,” Rhett blurted out, looking at Link just standing there. “What are you doing? Aren’t you cold?”

Link gave him a shaky smile, still standing half-naked at the foot of the bed. “This is the best part of it, man. Remember?”

Rhett remembered them having this discussion before. “I remember, and it’s crazy. Just, just come on-”

“No, I wanna enjoy this. You know that the best feeling in the world is getting into a warm bed after being cold.”

Rhett rolled his eyes and slid a bit further down the bed until he was lying down completely, his goal to be unable to look at Link unless he craned his neck in a really uncomfortable way.

Rhett was staring at the ceiling when Link chuckled and finally moved, and soon he was at the right side of the bed. Rhett turned his head sideways to look at him. Perhaps he shouldn’t have, because now he was faced with Link reaching out for the light switch, his lazy limbs stretching to the side and the muscles of his legs and back tensing. It was only for a moment that Rhett got to look at it, because soon enough Link flipped the switch and they were in the dark.

Rhett’s eyes were slow to adjust to the darkness, so for the first few moments he couldn’t see Link at all.

“That’s why,” Link said as he took his glasses off and placed them on the nightstand, “I’m not even going to wear anything but this.”

His reasoning was so absurdly adorable that Rhett could have laughed, but there was also something else about that statement, something that, well, something that bothered him. “Not even a shirt?”

“Nuh-uh,” Link mumbled, pulling the covers up so he could get under them. Rhett immediately scooted to his side of the bed, while Link settled into the warm middle of it without any reservations.

Link sighed loudly and contentedly as he lay down and pulled the covers up to his neck, closing his eyes as he sunk into the warm sheets. Rhett listened to him sigh and groan in pleasure, his own face purposefully turned away, eyes fixed on the radiator under the window. Link made a soft  _“brr”_ sound and shivered a little as he settled in, and Rhett couldn’t help but grin.

“Warm enough?” Rhett teased, chancing a look at him.

“Mmm. I love you,” Link stated, eyes still blissfully closed.

Rhett spluttered for words, ending up awkwardly laughing. He looked at Link who looked content and happy, and his heart soared. “Ditto,” Rhett said, grinning goofily. Link laughed and just as he opened his eyes to look at Rhett, Rhett turned to look at the ceiling again. He felt like he had been strangely heavily affected by Link’s almost casual statement, but he was happy.

For a moment it was quiet and all he could hear was Link’s soft breathing, and when he turned to look at Link, he found Link already looking at him.

Link gave him a soft, sleepy smile and sighed. They looked at each other for a while before Link said: “Goodnight.”

_“I love you,”_  Rhett almost said. “Goodnight.”

Link scooted up closer to him, which was a thing he usually did when he was asleep, but rarely when he was awake, and never so deliberately. He closed his eyes, his shoulder resting just next to Rhett’s, pressed against it, and this is how he fell asleep.

Rhett didn’t know how long had passed since he had closed his eyes and first started to will himself to sleep. He only knew that he was just on the verge of falling asleep when Link stirred beside him.

“Ugh,” was the soft sound that came from his best friend, who was now awake.

“Hey,” Rhett called softly, opening his eyes to look at Link. His eyes had completely adjusted to the dark, and he could see the other man’s distressed face clearly. “Link. You okay, man?” he whispered.

Link shook his head minutely and blinked a few times before opening his eyes. “Can’t sleep, ’m cold again.”

Link looked at him for a little, but before Rhett could say anything to him, Link was getting up.

“Where are you going?” Rhett asked as Link sat up groggily, his voice still a whisper.

“I’ll just get my pjs,” Link whispered back and clambered out of the bed. He found his glasses on the nightstand easily enough and walked over to his suitcase, with Rhett languidly watching him from the bed. 

Link squatted in front of his suitcase, searching for his pyjama pants, shaking with the cold throughout.

“Crap,” Link said after a while, making Rhett sit up to look over at him.

“You okay?” Rhett asked.

Link shook his head and stood up, wrapping his arms around himself again. “I think I forgot to pack my pjs. It wasn’t supposed to be this cold!” he said indignantly.

Rhett bit the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing, “You can have mine. They’re over there on the chair next to my bag,” he offered. “Might be a bit big, but, y'know.”

“Oh, yeah,” Link smiled and wasted no time in retrieving the pyjama bottoms. He put them on quickly, and they were a bit too wide around the waist, but he bunched the waistband up and tucked the spare fabric under the waistband of his undies. “Thanks,” Link said sincerely as he moved back to the bed.

“No problem,” Rhett said quietly and lay back down, unthinkingly waiting for Link to join him. Link returned to bed but didn’t lie as close to Rhett as before. 

Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, Link was asleep, and soon enough Rhett fell asleep too, still on his back but with his head tilted towards Link.

When Rhett awoke, it was because Link was murmuring in his sleep. The room was still dark, but Rhett could see Link clearly - and he could feel him even better. Link had thrown one of his legs over Rhett’s and was now lying half on top of him, his head on Rhett’s shoulder and his left hand draped over Rhett’s chest.

And then Rhett could hear him. “By the way…” Link mumbled, but didn’t follow it up with anything. Rhett almost burst out laughing, and shook his head, unable to control the smile that was slowly growing. He  _loved_ it when Link talked in his sleep.

The smile disappeared when Link - well, Rhett didn’t really know whether to characterize the sound as a moan or a groan - but Link made a  _sound._  It was accompanied by him pushing himself up closer to Rhett and inadvertently rubbing his thigh up Rhett’s own, which made Link repeat the sound, if a bit louder.

Rhett froze. Link was now still and quiet, save for his laboured breathing, and Rhett hoped that whatever dream Link was having had passed.

He heaved a sigh and looked down at the top of Link’s head. He was still tired, even if he didn’t feel like sleeping, and those fuzzy thoughts of kissing the top of Link’s head revisited him as they did any time Link leaned his head on Rhett’s shoulder.

When Link moved his hand a bit to let it rest in the centre of Rhett’s chest protectively and made a small, soft noise, Rhett’s heart started beating so hard he thought that Link might feel it under his hand and wake up.

The room was filled with soft murmurs from Link again, while Rhett all but held his breath.

“A little lower,” Link mumbled suddenly, and then gave a content sigh.

Rhett turned his head to face the window again, his cheeks burning. This was awkward.  _Right?_  He’d  _so_  make fun of Link when the guy woke up.  _Seriously._

Then Link made another one of those soft moans or groans or whatever it was, and Rhett suddenly remembered  _he hadn’t brushed his teeth_. He’d been too preoccupied with Link’s hair dryer situation to do it, but now he had an opportunity to right that wrong. 

He carefully took Link’s hand in his and gently moved it from his chest to the bed, then untangled his legs from Link’s and sat up before getting out of the bed. Link stirred, but didn’t wake up, only adjusted himself on the bed so he was nearly lying on his front.

Rhett looked at him for a bit but soon shook himself out of it. The floor was cold - maybe Link had been right to complain - so he found a clean pair of socks and put them on before going to the bathroom.

Link had warned him, but of course he had forgotten about it - the shower curtain wasn’t the best. The bathroom floor was flooded.

He sighed, aggravated, but continued to stand in the big puddle in front of the sink, the soles of his socks soggy. It was not a pleasant feeling, but he wasn’t about to go back to a moaning Link, not immediately. 

So he soldiered through the uncomfortable feeling on his feet and brushed his teeth thoroughly, taking the time to wash his face as well.

Closing the lid, he sat down on the toilet, putting off having to go back for a little longer. 

In truth, Link’s movements and sounds hadn’t made him feel awkward or uncomfortable at all. It was exactly the opposite, and that made him want to leave the bed. Link would often move and talk in his sleep, and Rhett liked to say that he’d gotten used to hearing it and feeling it. However, each time something like this happened, it affected Rhett more than the previous time.  
Soon he’d found that he liked Link’s, even unconscious, displays of affection. He had had to get out of the bed exactly because he thought they were  _pleasant._ They urged him to wake Link up and be fully and unabashedly affectionate with him, which was a road he was not ready to go down.

Still.  _He would have loved to be the one to make an awake Link moan like that._

He looked around the bathroom for a bit, hesitating to get up. 

After a while, he decided to go back to bed - no matter the feelings Link’s closeness stirred inside him, he couldn’t stay in the damp bathroom forever. 

He took his wet socks off and left them by the bathroom door, on a patch of the floor that the water hadn’t reached.

When he reentered the bedroom, he immediately noticed that Link was now awake.

“Rhett?” Link called out sleepily, and Rhett instinctively took a step forward. Link’s eyes followed him and he mumbled, “Come back to bed,” before closing his eyes and nuzzling Rhett’s pillow.

“Right… right,” Rhett mumbled and climbed into the bed next to Link. Immediately, Link’s hand was on his chest again, Link’s leg pressed against his own down its entire length, and Link’s foot in-between Rhett’s now bare ones.

“Your feet are so cold,” Link whispered.

“Yeah,” Rhett confirmed, having to admit he felt the cold as well.

“Why don’t you put on your socks?” Link whispered again, his eyes closed as he now proceeded to nuzzle Rhett’s shoulder.

Rhett bowed his head only slightly to look down at him. “Got them wet. You flooded the entire bathroom,” he whispered back.

“I warned you about that!” Link said indignantly, but didn’t raise his voice a bit. Neither of them thought to speak at a higher volume, even if they were alone - maybe it was that they both still hoped to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, though, Link opened his eyes slightly and smiled. “Hey,” he called softly.

“Yeah?” Rhett whispered back.

“D'you know what Caesar said when he crossed the river Rubicon?” Link’s voice was a sleepy whisper, but halfway through the sentence it sounded as if he were trying to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

“Uh,” Rhett frowned. Was this related to something Link had dreamt? Or were sudden history questions normal for the time of night and the fact that one of them was still dazed from sleep? “ _The die is cast?_ ” Rhett quoted from memory, not having the slightest idea as to why Link would be mentioning Caesar in the middle of the night.

Tilting his head up to look up at Rhett, Link bumped his nose against Rhett’s chin. He leaned back a little to look Rhett in the eyes, his brows furrowing in a silent  _I wasn’t expecting you to remember the actual quote,_   _since, well, I didn’t._  “No,” Link whispered secretively, cracking a small smile, “He said:  _oh no, I got my socks wet again.”_

“What?” Rhett asked quietly, through a startled laugh. Link was quietly giggling, and Rhett scooted closer to his cold, sleepy friend, unable not to laugh with him.  _So._  Link hadn’t dreamt about ancient Rome. Not that it had sounded like it, anyway. However, he was evidently still a little confused from having just woken up because even if his joke did make some sense, his position - mushy and loving but also conscious,  _deliberate_  - wasn’t making any.

“We need to go to sleep, man,” Rhett whispered, though he was still laughing quietly.

For a moment, it stopped Link’s laughter, and he furrowed his brows again. “Hmm. What’s the time?”

Rhett turned his head to look over his shoulder at the little alarm clock sitting on the nightstand. “It’s two thirty.”

They still spoke quietly, though they weren’t quite whispering now.

“I’m not tired at all anymore.”

“Shouldn’t have woken us up with your brilliant humor,” Rhett said, smirking.

“Yeah,” Link smiled, looking up at him.

Rhett gulped and suddenly felt like avoiding Link’s gaze, and even more so when he felt his face heating up. “Nothing we can do about it now,” he muttered, “The die is cast,” he said with a smile.

Link laughed again, making Rhett’s smile widen.

“I knew it was something about like, doing something you wanted,” Link murmured sleepily, “But also like, reaching the point of no return.”

“Yeah,” Rhett confirmed, averting his eyes. Eyes downcast almost shyly, Rhett laughed and said,  _“Alea iacta est.”_

Rhett was sure he’d butchered the pronunciation, but when Link looked up at him, something tightened in Rhett’s chest in the most pleasant way at the sight of Link looking impressed. Link raised his eyebrows. “Is that actual Latin?”

Rhett did a half-shrug. “I watch a lot of trivia quiz shows.”

Link hummed his approval. “Say something else in Latin.”

It was a weird request, but Rhett only dwelled on that fact for a moment. He knew he sounded nervous as he spoke, but he wanted to do it for Link. “I think the only other thing I know is the Gatsby thing.  _Ad finem fidelis.”_

“Sounds smart,” Link smirked, “What’s it mean?”

“Faithful till the end,” Rhett mumbled, his gaze briefly flicking to the hand resting on his chest, and the wedding band that adorned Link’s finger.

“Huh,” Link mumbled, apparently not thinking much of it. His eyes followed Rhett’s and he looked at his own hand, but didn’t exactly see the same thing that Rhett had seen. “Guess it’s like you and me.” Link began to trace a circular pattern on Rhett’s chest with the hand that lay on it, slowly running the tips of his fingers over the soft fabric of Rhett’s t-shirt.

It was Rhett’s turn for a confused frown, though his heart fluttered at the feeling of Link’s gentle fingers on his chest. “What do you mean?”

Link yawned, contradicting his own recent claim of him not being at all tired, and tucked his head up closer to Rhett’s neck. “We’ve been best friends ever since we knew what friends were, man. I’m not about to think of leaving you. Ever. Not about to up and make an internet morning show with anyone else, y'know,” he spoke softly.

Rhett smiled, tilting his head down a little. His nose touched the crown of Link’s head and he smiled to himself; he could smell the pleasant scent of Link’s shampoo. “I know,” he said quietly.

Link raised his head slightly so he could look at Rhett better and leaned in until they were an inch apart, his gaze following the slope of Rhett’s nose from his eyes to his lips. Rhett’s mouth fell slightly open, and when Link’s gaze met his again, Rhett was looking right at him.

He had said it a million times before, but he still felt the need to look down, hide his gaze a little as he did it: “I really do love you,” Link said, laughing a little to dissolve any awkwardness Rhett could have been feeling at Link telling him that in the position they were in. “I didn’t just say it because you acted as my heater,” he followed up, looking into Rhett’s eyes again.

Rhett gulped, his throat suddenly feeling too dry for him to form words. But he knew what he needed to say, and even if it came naturally for them to say it to each other, over time it never lost its meaning. “I love you too.”

He said it as surely as ever. Rhett had once thought that he was the more daring one when it came to things like these, the one more sure in his masculinity, the one who could tell his blood-brother he loved him without any romantic implications. 

But he’d been wrong, and it actually didn’t take him long to realize it.  
  
And Link was just as daring as he was. His eyes briefly flicked to Link’s own lips, and Link seemed to notice.

“I think…” Link began bashfully, looking down at his position on top of Rhett with a smile, “I really need that Amish board.” 

He tried a laugh, but it ceased when he looked back up at Rhett’s face - Rhett, whose lips quirked at one corner for a moment, but his smile quickly fell away as it was replaced by parted lips and soft, almost excited breaths.

Rhett knew what he had to do. He was almost giddy with the realization. Why live without the implications? Why, especially when it was just the two of them, when everything he needed was within his grasp?

It was two thirty am. Which helped explain what Link did next, maybe. Maybe he would have done it at two thirty pm, or would have wanted to. But in the dead of night, there isn’t a lot of thinking going on, no time to talk himself out of something he’d wanted to do for the longest time.

Sliding the hand that was on Rhett’s chest all the way to the other side of him to place it on the bed and use it as support to raise himself up, half sliding out of the too-big pyjama pants as he pushed himself up Rhett’s chest until he was pressed flush against him, he leaned down and pressed their lips together in a short kiss.

When he leaned back to look at Rhett, the other man was slowly opening his eyes, his breathing laboured and his heart thumping audibly in his chest. Rhett smiled, and Link mirrored the smile.

This wasn’t a kiss to affirm them as good friends who could kiss each other and think nothing of it.

This was something else entirely, and they both revelled in it.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhett’s hands, which had up until that point been limp at his sides, came up to Link’s arms. He pushed his left leg up under Link as the other man moved to Rhett’s middle. Once Link was safely settled, snug on top of Rhett, Rhett bent his legs at the knees slightly, keeping Link in between them on top of him. Link’s arms were folded between his chest and Rhett’s, his palms pressed against the soft fabric of Rhett’s shirt, the body under his fingers warm and pulsing with the quick, fervent beating of Rhett’s heart. 

Link couldn’t resist pushing himself up Rhett’s body a little to give him another kiss. Rhett had had a similar idea, and they met with a nose bump, which incorporated dopey laughter into the kisses that followed. 

They could have stayed that way forever - sharing soft, happy kisses - had the waistband of the pyjama pants Link was wearing not ridden down all the way to the middle of Link’s thighs, had it not been digging both into his and into Rhett’s skin uncomfortably. 

  
Pushing himself up, Link kneeled in between Rhett’s legs and began to pull the pyjama pants all the way down.

Rhett moved back a little, half-sitting up against the headboard and bending his legs up a little more as if to give Link space to move as he took the pyjamas off. As Link was doing it, Rhett looked at him intently, his breathing quickened, entranced by the sight of Link undressing.

Link was a bit clumsy in taking the pyjama pants off - of course he was - and they tangled around his feet so that he had to sit down in order to take them off completely. He flung his legs over the edge of the bed and kicked the pyjamas off, after which he bent a little to pick them up and straighten them out, his cheeks darkened. 

Legs still open and welcoming, Rhett watched him, unable to keep the smile off his face. “Link-”

“Sorry, sorry,” Link whispered, turning around and giving Rhett a nervous smile.   
  


Rhett grinned and reached out with his right hand. “Just come here.” Link dropped the pyjama pants onto the floor.

He nodded and promptly moved up the bed, but didn’t climb in between Rhett’s legs again. Gently, Link placed a hand on Rhett’s thigh in a silent suggestion for the other man to put his legs down. Rhett complied, after which Link slowly but surely climbed onto Rhett’s lap, his face less than an inch from Rhett’s, his eyes downcast and fixated on Rhett’s lips throughout. Once he was comfortably seated on Rhett’s lap, straddling him, he leaned down a tad and gave Rhett a short kiss. Another kiss followed, and then another - each longer than the one before, and yet the more they kissed the more impatient they grew, always wanting more. 

Because of the way he was sitting, and the fairly thin fabric underwear is usually made of, Link could feel the slight bulge that tented the front of Rhett’s boxers. He shivered a little as they kissed again, making Rhett break  the kiss.

“Are you cold?” Rhett asked softly, bringing a hand up to caress Link’s cheek. 

Link gulped, sitting up a bit straighter on top of him. “Uh, um,” he began shakily, “A little.” He couldn’t help but to grin at Rhett’s worried expression.

Rhett sat up as well and immediately put his hands on Link’s arms, moving them up and down from shoulder to elbow in an attempt to warm Link up. Because Link was sitting atop him, their faces were at the same level, and it was easy for Rhett to just lean in and connect their lips in another kiss. It was open-mouthed, this time, their lips moving easily, a whole new array of sensations manifesting when their tongues touched, even if it was for the shortest of moments. Link was the first to act on it, and next time he kissed Rhett he deliberately brushed his tongue against Rhett’s, who only pressed closer and stilled in his attempts at warming Link up, holding onto Link’s arms, shivering a little himself. 

Rhett broke the kiss when he felt one of Link’s hands on his chest, tugging at his shirt. He looked down at the hand which was trailing down, pushing the shirt up to reveal a stripe of skin underneath at the same time. When Link pushed his hand up Rhett’s shirt, but kept it low, just above his belly button, Rhett leaned back a little to pull the shirt off over his head. 

Before it was completely discarded, his lips were on Link’s again, a lock or two of his only slightly messed-up hair falling onto his forehead.

Rhett put his hands on Link’s waist and pulled him closer, kissing down the side of his jaw and his neck. Link gasped, his hands travelling up Rhett’s chest and winding up around his neck.

Rhett continued to kiss the slight incline between Link’s neck and shoulder, his beard tickling Link and making him giggle breathlessly. 

The giggles ceased when Rhett brought his hand down to Link’s crotch, ghosting it over the thin fabric of his underwear. Link thrust forward a little, breathing heavily, closing his eyes when Rhett wrapped his hand around the sensitive, clothed skin.

“Rhett, I-” Link began breathily. Rhett continued to kiss his neck, all the while palming him through his underwear. “That’s - ah -” Link began again, flustered, but came up with nothing.

Rhett laughed a little and started to use his hand more decidedly. “I know,” he said softly, leaning up to kiss Link on the lips again. 

Link deepened the kiss fervently, moving his hands to run his fingers through the short hairs of Rhett’s beard and the nape of his neck. 

“Can I see you?” Rhett asked when they broke apart for air, nearly too breathless to speak. Link smiled and kissed him adoringly, angling his body so he could kiss Rhett even as he climbed off him.  

It was urgent and messy and Rhett loved him, he loved him so much he thought his heart might break as he looked at Link lean back, lay beside him on the bed and take his briefs off. 

When Link bared himself completely, lying in front of Rhett so open and trusting, and so visibly happy, Rhett leaned down to kiss him hastily, not caring about anything else but being affectionate with his best friend. Link giggled and kissed him back gladly. He smiled, gasping as Rhett continued kissing him, moving down his chest and lower. 

Rhett’s beard rubbed against the soft skin of Link’s thighs as he kissed the base of his dick. Link grabbed the headboard behind his head with both hands and bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Rhett-” he breathed, with a sound exactly like the one he’d made in his dream, except this was  _much_ better, Rhett thought. Rhett kissed him and touched him to his, and apparently Link’s, heart’s delight, until Link became a bit restless. 

Link could barely make himself do it, but he knew that more than any sort of pleasure he needed Rhett closer, needed him to share the pleasure, so he asked Rhett to stop. 

“C'mere,” Link mumbled, flustered, reaching down with his left hand to run his fingers through Rhett’s hair and tug at it a little. Rhett, who’d periodically looked at Link - which had nearly done Link in - now looked at him attentively, almost unblinkingly, his face still between Link’s legs, making Link want to hide his own face. “C'mon,” Link urged him softly, blushing. “You’ll give me rug burn with that beard,” he teased, making Rhett smile. Rhett pushed himself up and they met, once again, with a messy kiss. Rhett’s kisses were so fond and impassioned they were almost fierce, and Link laughed softly underneath him and let himself be kissed.

Neither had ever shared physical contact that made them feel so happy, almost giddy, and whether or not they knew that they made each other feel that way, the continued to seek the closeness, the warmth of each other’s love.

So they kissed some more, and maybe Link laughed and Rhett couldn’t keep the smile off his face, and Link kept one hand on Rhett’s cheek while the other travelled south to tug at the waistband of Rhett’s boxers. 

Both their arousal was now visible, and apparently neglected for too long, because when Rhett noticed Link’s hand and inadvertently thrust his hips forward a little - which resulted in Link’s dick coming in close if not direct contact with Rhett’s own - Link moaned loudly and Rhett held his breath.

“Link,  _fuck-_ ” Rhett said, teeth gritted and his eyes squeezing shut.

“Rhett,” Link mirrored, shoving both his hands down Rhett’s boxers urgently and pushing them down enough to reveal Rhett’s proudly stiff dick.

Rhett claimed Link’s lips again and thrust forward more deliberately, the skin-on-skin contact making them both moan. 

Every movement that followed was driven by passion, mutual pleasure, the incessant need to let each other know  _not to stop_.

Link kept his hands on Rhett’s lower back throughout, his hands sliding a bit lower only occasionally, and Rhett kept his right arm at Link’s side, leaning against it, while his other arm lay just next to Link’s head, positioned so that he could brush the hair from Link’s forehead when it fell in front of his eyes.

Soon their movements became quicker, more erratic, their breath coming in short puffs in between desperate kisses. They each moved a hand to the other’s cheek and held each other like that, looking into each other’s eyes as they came. 

Well, really, as Rhett came. Just a moment after he did, Rhett squeezed his eyes shut, and Link kept his eyes on him, stroking his cheek lovingly before moving his hand down Rhett’s shoulder to place a kiss on his cheek and steady himself as his own release coursed through him. 

Link buried his face in the crook of Rhett’s neck, and Rhett took a deep breath to steady himself. He kissed Link’s forehead and climbed off him to lie on his back beside him, traces of what they’d just done visible on both their chests.

Rhett enjoyed the sight, but he was going to say something about it,  _he was_  - only Link beat him to it. 

“Uh, hey,” Link whispered, turning to face Rhett, lips still quirked up a little even though he was panting, “My towel’s on the suitcase, there, if you wanna…”

Rhett smiled and gave him a quick peck before sitting up to get out of the bed. Once he found the towel, he wiped himself off quickly, blushing a little because he could feel Link’s eyes on him.

When he returned to bed, towel in hand, he propped himself up on one elbow and began to wipe Link off. Link, who blushed even more furiously than him and looked at Rhett with a demure smile. 

“Hey,” Link said softly, just before Rhett was done with cleaning him up.

“Yeah?” Rhett’d almost let an endearment like  _baby_  slip.

“Are you gonna need your shirt?” he asked, “I, um, I’m a little cold,” he said shyly.

Rhett shook his head and when he turned around to dispose of the towel, he picked his t-shirt up off the floor.

“Here ya go,” he mumbled with a smile, and watched Link sit up to pull it on. 

“Uh, have you seen my-”

“Over there,” Rhett pointed at the other side of the bed, where Link had carelessly discarded his underpants. 

Link nodded and reached out to retrieve them and pull them on quickly, after which he lay back beside Rhett. 

Rhett looked around himself a little, considering something, not moving or lying back into the bed. 

“What is it?” Link asked, looking up at him. He couldn’t see a lot without his glasses, but he could feel Rhett’s puzzling hesitance. 

“You wouldn’t mind if I slept naked, would you..?” 

Link burst out laughing, making Rhett smile as well, if a bit uncertainly. 

“No,” Link said, “No, I wouldn’t. Come on.” 

Link turned to the side, turning his back to Rhett as Rhett threw his boxers onto the floor, and Rhett finally lay down next to him, immediately pressing against his back. He wrapped his arms around Link to pull him closer and Link sighed, but they were both a bit tense, and very quiet. 

Until finally Link relaxed into his arms and pressed back a little. Rhett squeezed him protectively and buried his nose in the hair at the back of Link’s neck, and he was ready to fall asleep, when Link spoke.

Like he was whispering the greatest secret, despite the position they were in, no matter what they’d just done, Link said: “I like you.” 

Something twisted in Rhett’s stomach in the most bittersweet way, but he smiled. It was the loveliest and saddest thing Link had ever said to him. It was like the fact that they liked each other suddenly meant more than the fact that they loved each other, because they had always loved each other, more than anyone. But this new side of their relationship was belated and  _wrong_ and would have to stay confined in the dark of this hotel room.

“I like you too,” Rhett whispered, because no matter what, he could never deny telling Link how he made him feel.  _Even if it was wrong to think that sleeping with your best friend was more special than sleeping with your spouse._

Rhett had been an idiot. He had let Link’s way of sleeping become a running joke. Which, he thought,  _was_  the best way to deal with it, because, well, how does one even begin to explain to anyone the fact that he liked sharing a bed with his best friend more than he did with his wife?

-

Rhett had never been more appreciative of his own habit of showering in the morning. 

The room was  _hot._ When he got up, the first thing he did was walk over to the radiator, which was all but scalding to the touch.  _Of course._

He looked back at Link, still, for once in his life, in the same position they had fallen asleep in.

He turned the heating down a bit, picked his boxers up off the floor and put them on before making his way to the bathroom.

He felt like looking into the mirror might lure him into some introspection, make him think of what he’d done and what he could never do again - so he looked around the bathroom to find something else to look at, anything that would chase thoughts of his best friend from his mind.

That’s when he noticed his socks on the floor by the door, and when he picked them up, they were still a bit damp to the touch. He sighed and opened the door to the bedroom to go hang out the socks on the now-warm radiator, because he wasn’t about to pack a pair of wet socks into his suitcase and have them rot inside. 

When he stepped into the bedroom, he immediately saw Link, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, Rhett’s shirt still on. He stood up as soon as he saw Rhett and pushed his glasses up his nose.

“Hey,” Link said weakly, moving his hands around a little as if he didn’t know what to do with them. He settled on fiddling with the hem of the shirt he was wearing, which was a bit too big for him and it was only now really evident, and Rhett could have gone without seeing that, the way a shirt as plain as that could look as adorable on a person. 

Rhett walked over to the radiator and put the socks up to dry, taking his time. 

When he turned to look at Link, Link was trembling. 

“Link,” he called, “You cold?” 

Link shook his head but kept looking down at his hands. “No,” he said softly.

Rhett ran his fingers across the ribbed top of the warm radiator. “The heating works,” he stated.

“Yeah,” Link said, looking at Rhett for a brief moment, forcing a smile.

Rhett mirrored the smile and huffed out what could have been a laugh. “One day we’ll look back at this and-”

“Don’t,” Link said quietly, interrupting him, and Rhett immediately nodded.

Rhett approached him, and Link went on, eyes still downcast, “We can't… we shouldn’t have-”

He fell silent when Rhett pulled him in for a hug, and instead of talking simply clutched Rhett, holding him close. 

“I love you,” Link mumbled, because an  _“I like you,”_  he felt, would have been too much.

“I know,” Rhett whispered, cracking a genuine, though still slightly sad smile. “I love you too.”

Rhett rubbed Link’s back soothingly until Link pulled away a little, leaning back so that he could look at him. 

In the past they had spent hours talking about their friendship, but it seemed as if now everything could be said with a single look. 

Link’s eyes watered, and he cast his eyes instead to a point somewhere underneath Rhett’s Adam’s apple.  _He wasn’t going to cry._

Rhett brought one hand up to tilt Link’s chin up a little, and leaned in.

“Can I-” 

“Yes,” Link said. A parting kiss. The word had barely left his lips before Rhett kissed him and he was kissing back just as hard.

It was a bit awkward in how they were both so hungry for it and so,  _so_ stupid. 

When they parted, Rhett smiled and carefully wiped away a tear that had slid down Link’s cheek. “I’m going to take a shower,” Rhett said, still a bit quieter than he normally would have been, “You need to take a dump?” 

He smirked and Link gave him a watery smile before laughing. 

“Yeah, yes,” Link said, shaking his head fondly.

  
It was enough for Rhett to know that this wouldn’t change anything between them, and he almost breathed a sigh of relief.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading ! 
> 
> \+ feel free to come talk to me @ [my tumblr](http://www.rhincoln.tumblr.com) :)


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